If you lived as a child in the 70's, looking
back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have...

As children: We would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags.
Our cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paint.
We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cupboards.
When we rode our bikes we had no helmets.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then
ride down the hill only to find out we forgot the brakes.
After running into the bushes few times we learned to solve the
problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as
we were back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all
day.
No mobile phones.

We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but
us.
Remember accidents?
We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and
learned to get over it.
We ate patty cakes, bread and butter, and drank cordial, but we
were never overweight.
We were always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle and no
one died from this.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video
games, 65 Channels on pay TV, video tape movies, surround sound,
personal mobile phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms
... we had friends. We went outside and found them.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the
door, or rung the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a
thing.
Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold
cruel world.
Without a guardian - how did we do it?

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and ate worms,
and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many
eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.
Footy and netball had tryout and not everyone made the team.
Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.
Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade
and were held back to repeat the same grade. Tests were not adjusted for any
reason.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to
hide behind.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard
of.
They actually sided with the law - imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and
problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an
explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom,
failure, success and responsibility, and we earned how to deal with it all.
And you're one of them. Congratulations!

And just to make sure you have had enough... Just for a minute,
forget everything stressful and read this.
go back in time...
Before the Internet or the Apple Mac.
Before semi-automatics, joy riders and crack.
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...
Way back.

I'm talking about Hide and Seek in the park. The corner shop.
Hopscotch. Butterscotch. Skipping. Handstands. Football with an old can.
Beano, Dandy, Buster, Twinkle and Dennis the Menace.
Roly Poly. Hula Hoops. Jumping the stream, building dams.
The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.
Bazooka Joe bubble gum. An ice cream cone on a warm summer night from
the van that plays a Tune.
Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe Neapolitan
Perhaps a screwball. Watching Saturday morning cartoons.
Short commercials. The Double Deckers, Road Runner, He-Man,
Zeebedee, Tiswas or Swapshop?. And 'Why Don't You'?
Or staying up for Doctor Who. When around the corner seemed far
away and going into town seemed like going somewhere.
Earwigs, wasps, stinging nettles and bee stings. Sticky fingers.
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, and Zorro.

Climbing trees. Building igloos out of snow banks.
Walking to school, no matter what the weather
Running till you were out of breath, laughing so hard that your
stomach hurt. Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for
giggles. Being tired from playing....remember that?
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
Football cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a
motorcycle. Choppers and Grifters.
Eating raw jelly. Orange squash ice pops.
Remember when... There were two types of trainers - girls and
boys, and Dunlop Green Flash.. and the only time you wore them at school was
for P.E.
You knew everyone in your street - and so did your parents.
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas eve.
When nobody owned a pure-bred dog.
When 25p was decent pocket money.
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When nearly everyone's mum was at home when the kids got there.
It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.

When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to
dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.
When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him
to carry groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.
When being sent to the head's office was nothing compared to the
fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.
Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of
drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs etc. Parents and grandparents were a much
bigger threat! - and some of us are still afraid of them!!

Didn't that feel good?
Just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!
Remember when.... Decisions were made by going " Ip dip dob out"
"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly".
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs.
And the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one.
It was unbelievable that 'British Bulldog 123' wasn't an Olympic
event.

Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a catapult.
Nobody was prettier than Mum.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest
protectors.

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED.

Print this out and keep it...
"I DOUBLE-DARE YOU"